The Backyard Committee plays the Ballroom at the Outer Space in Hamden on March 4, as part of Emerge Fest.

There's a class of musician who lives for studio time, who finds safe haven among the desktops and mixing boards, who believes take after take, edit after edit will lead to timeless, sonic perfection — and for whom live performance is, at best, a distraction.

Mike Sembos, whose floating-membership band the Backyard Committee plays the Saturday 11 p.m. slot at this year's Emerge Festival, is not a member of that class. Sembos' thing is performing live; it's what got him interested in playing music in the first place. And if his stage time suffers — either because there aren't any available players for a gig, or because he has to edit a vocal part on a recording — he gets antsy.

"Being in a studio is great, but there are so many times when nobody's really playing the song all the way through," Sembos said. "Everything can just be fixed, so nobody's performing, which is what I like about music, what people put out naturally. All your time is spent editing, not even playing full takes. It loses the fun for me. It sounds boring. It's all computer editing and not playing."

Sembos, who until recently was an employee of The Courant, is a restless musician, but he's able to commit long-term. He currently plays bass in Sun Dagger, an instrumental psych-rock outfit, and with the hockey-themed Zambonis. For 10 years, he played guitar and bass in the Alternate Routes, a Bridgeport-based band. In 2009, he formed the Backyard Committee to give his original songs an outlet; they've since released two studio albums of swaggering, improv-heavy country rock, with Sembos' high, clear voice and nimble guitar work serving as dual focal points, on songs that recall mid-'70s Crazy Horse or later bands like the Jayhawks. Still, he insists, "It was more of a backburner thing then."

No longer: last year, Sembos played his final gig with the Alternate Routes and turned his full attention to the Backyard Committee. Now, he said, "I have enough songs and resources to do what I want. I can create different setlists every night. You need to have a back catalogue to do that."

Sembos figured if he taught enough people his songs, there might always be a lineup ready to play. "Everyone I know is in five different bands," Sembos said. "It was another project where I was sick of turning down gigs." When a gig pops up, he can call any one of four or five drummers, three or four lead guitar players, a keyboard player and a pedal steel player. Every position is flexible, and all the musicians know the songs — even Eric Donnelly, the Alternate Routes guitarist. "Eric has done a lot of shows, and he came on the last tour."

The added bonus: the music sounds different from show to show.

"I got sick of being in bands that play the song the same way every time," Sembos said. "The fact that you play with one player one week and another person another week, that keeps it fresh."

On a recent tour of the Midwest, Sembos dragged a laptop and extra microphones to every gig, creating a multitrack document for each stop of the tour. He plans to upload every one to archive.org while reserving outstanding takes for an official BYC live album. Tarquin Studios in Bridgeport is currently mastering a set of songs for a vinyl release this summer, which is around the time the BYC plans to tour the Northeast. (One track will be from a recent session for Daytrotter, a popular website that features up-and-coming indie bands.)

If the sound quality of BYC road recordings can't match what you can do in the studio, it more than makes up for it in vibrancy and freshness. You'll hear the occasional, endearing flub or two, which Sembos refuses to edit out. "I'm not anti-studio," Sembos said. "It's just what I like listening to right now: music with mistakes and feelings. We just want an overall feel. It's nice to be able to tap into whatever vibe is being produced when everyone is playing together. Pro-tools is so easy now. Everyone can sound perfect."

The Emerge Festival, now three years old, has raised money for Connecticut-based musicians who want to tour; this year, all funds (after expenses) go to Hartford's Interval House, a non-profit dedicated to combating domestic violence. The 2015 festival takes over two stages — the Outer Space and adjacent Ballroom in Hamden — on Friday and Saturday, March 6 and 7. Other highlights include EULA on Friday night, and Winterpills, headlining Saturday.

The rest of the lineup for the Backyard Committee's Emerge Festival performance, which takes place at the Ballroom, will be drummer Nick D'Errico (his first gig with the BYC), bassist Tim Walsh (the Stepkids' drummer) and guitarist Chris Cavalier. And yes, it'll probably be recorded.

"Hard-drive space is cheap and the lifespan of bands is short," Sembos said. "I'd rather have everything on tape and then worry about it later."

THE BACKYARD COMMITTEE performs at the Ballroom at the Outer Space in Hamden on Saturday, March 7, as part of the Emerge Fest. Showtime is 11 p.m. Tickets are $12 to $20. Information: theouterspace.net.